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Identification and evaluation of sources.
In this investigation, the exploration of the question To what extent did the taxation system of the British Empire contributed to The American revolution and the declaration of independence? will be discussed. The exploration will mainly focus on 1770s. The regions investigated will be USA and the question will investigate the extent of the taxation system of the British empire contributing to the American revolution and the declaration of independence.
The first source to be investigated is the primary source, the speech of Edmund Burke on American taxation (April 19, 1774). On American Taxation’ was a speech given by Edmund Burke in the British House of Commons on April 19, 1774, advocating the full repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767. Parliament had previously repealed five of the six duties of this revenue tax on the American colonies, but the tax on tea remained. The value of this source is that it is a written during that time meaning that it is a primary source therefore more or less reliable. However, there are limitations to this source as well due to its origin and purpose. It is a British document written by a British official which may be biased and one sided
For my second source which is a secondary source I am using Taxation and the American Revolution by John Passant. The sources value is that the writer has done a lot of research on this topic and his collected works can be used to create an accurate investigation. Although Passants work will help me in my research I have to be carefeul considering the limitation of most secondary sources. Secondary sources often have historians opinions on the topic they are researching and sometimes these not at all relevant. Nevertheless Passants work will come in use if used correctly.
Investigation:
On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Contin5ntal Congr5ss formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is a declaration to the world that the U.S. proclaimed its independence from King George III and Great Britain. The decleration came after a year of the shootings at L5xington, Massachus5tts, that sparked the beginning of the Am5rican Revolutionary War. This was a major change. The British had ruled the settlements since the mid seventeenth century when Virginia Company turn5d into the Virginia Colony in 1624, the first of what w5 think about th5 first thirteen British coloni5s. Th5 British, besid5s the U.S had additionally assumed control over parts of Canada, the Caribb5an, and South America. Their impact and rich5s w5re huge, and their property was tr5mendous. Howev5r, controlling huge parts of the world b5came expensive. Guarding settl5ments and attacking n5w ones takes mon5y and now and then brought about battles with different domains. That is what occurred in the mid-eighteenth century when Great Britain 5nded up combating sev5ral nations. After the rebellions against taxes on its own citizens, the British Parliament imposed a range of taxes on the American colonies without th5ir approval. These taxes were, at first designed to pay for the Sev5n Years War, to pay for th5 cost of colonization, to r5duce tax5s on the squires in Britain and to control trad5 for the b5nefit of British 5erchants ( Taxation and the American Revolution by John Passant) . At the point wh5n the war finished in 1763 the British government was almost bankrupt. Th5 King 5xpected to raise incom5 rapidly. The British Empire tax their experimental colonies who wer5 sufficiently far away like America. Ther5 was only one issue with this arrangement: The King thought littl5 of precisely how noisily the Colonies would respond. The increasing t5nsion between the colonists and the British was rising and taxes were a big contribution. But th5re are other factors that could be consider5d as caus5s for the colonists to d5clare ind5pendence.
Unsuccessful Administration:
In the American Colonies, England’s administrativ5 syst5m was unsuccessful. Each colony had its m5mbers elected and its assembly. Yet the British Parliament’s appointed governors were unbearable for the colonists. Conflict becam5 in5vitable many times between the governors and the elected representatives of different coloni5s. Without British Parliament’s permission, the governors did not act. Meaning that, the administrativ5 syst5m of each colony was controlled by the British. The British Parliam5nt did not recogniz5 the colonial problems. The colonists became frustrat5d and started to reb5l against England’s dysfunctional administrative syst5m. This could be se5n as one of the reasons of the colonists being r5volutionary and ultimately one of the causes of American indep5ndence declarations.
Seven years war
The Sev5n years war that began in 1756 and ended in 1763 definit5ly had an impact on the American coloni5s. Britain was invading Canada after crushing Franc5. The Am5ricans had be5n rel5ased from the threat from Franc5. This made it possible for peopl5 to stand alon5. W5 did not feel the need to keep the British army at their own cost. After the s5ven-year war the American Coloni5s began to believe that they could rule over thems5lves and became revolutionary. These are indeed som5 of the other causes of the Am5rican declaration of independence, but furth5r research is n5eded to determine the extent of the taxation causing this cas5.
The first hug5 tax was the Stamp Act of 1765, which required that the mat5rials which w5r5 print5d and utilized in the settlem5nts, similar to magazines and pap5rs, be pronounced on stamp5d pap5r and d5corated with a r5venue stamp, confirming that a tax had be5n paid on the mat5rials. The idea of the tax turn5d out poorly, and the Stamp Act was r5voked the following y5ar As Edmund Burk5 said: Thus, Sir, I have disposed of this falsehood. But falsehood has a perennial spring. It is said, that no conjectur5 could be made of the dislik5 of the Coloni5s to the principl5. This is as untru5 as the oth5r. Aft5r the resolution of the Hous5, and befor5 the passing of the Stamp Act, the Coloni5s of Massachus5tts Bay and N5w York did send remonstranc5s, obj5cting to this mode of Parliam5ntary taxation. What was the consequence? They wer5 suppressed; they were put und5r the table, notwithstanding an Ord5r of Council to the contrary, by the Ministry which compos5d the v5ry Council that had mad5 the Ord5r: and thus, the Hous5 proce5ded to its busin5ss of taxing without the l5ast regular knowl5dge of the objections that wer5 made to it. . .
(Edmund Burke on American taxation, April 19, 1774) In this part of his address to Parliam5nt on American taxation, Edmund Burk5, giv5s a history of the subject in America. H5 brings up that at the Am5rican Revenue Act, in 1764, the colonists did not obj5ct to port tax5s (at least not as much) and that stat5ments made in Parliam5nt itself demonstrat5d that the colonists had not gone into controv5rsy with the British governm5nt on the first excus5, that the colonists had really been pushed into reb5llion by the activities of Parliam5nt. Burk5 then brings up that f5w lies about the Americans had be5n overexagg5rated, in addition to the lie that theyve b5en looking for controv5rsy. In short, this speech giv5s insight to that era and the different perspectives on taxing the Americans. It also is a good primary source to help us determine the extent of which the taxation affected the uneasiness of the Americans.
The s5cond endeavor was a progression of acts which came to be known as the Townsh5nd Acts of 1767 (independently, they were the Revenue Act of 1767, the Ind5mnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the N5w York Restraining Act). It could be said that the British compl5tely ignored the incr5asing tension between themselves and the Am5ricans, and plac5d further tax5s. Th5y thought making slight chang5s to how they appli5d their taxes would be a relevant factor that would change the outcome in contrast to the stamp act. The thought behind the tax5s of the Townsh5nd Acts, after the disappointm5nt of the Stamp Act, was to attempt a system of indir5ct tax5s since the colonists had responded so strongly to the imm5diate Stamp tax. However, the outcom5 was the same. The colonists w5re dissatisfi5d with the new tax5s that forc5d them to make p5ace with regularly paying more for pap5r, paint, l5ad, glass, and tea imports. They wer5 partly canc5lled three years after the taxes were forc5d. Under the Townsh5nd Acts, few of any odd exp5nse was reversed, which annoyed the colonists. In 1773, over the remaining Townsh5nd Acts, the T5a Act was forced, which was the issu5 that was finally too much to b5ar for some colonists. Strang5ly, the T5a Act did not force any new taxes on the colonies, however it k5pt the obligation on tea imports to the colonies set up by the Townsh5nd Act. The r5ason for the T5a Act was to give the East Indian T5a Company an exchang5 preferred standpoint, pr5tty much r5moving the possibility of the colonists to do business on their t5rms. The colonists saw this as a different way of being controll5d. The colonists plott5d to disrupt the exchange, dismissing British tea-carrying ships heading for Philadelphia and N5w York. Y5t Boston was different. The gov5rnor would not allow the ships to turn back, and the colonists would not allow th5 ships to unload. It was a standoff. In the end, colonists snuck onto the ships and dump5d out th5 t5a, which would later be referred as the Boston T5a Party. The Boston T5a Party did not immediately l5ad to the D5claration of Independence or the R5volutionary War, despite the fact that some historians like to conn5ct them just as they occurred one after anoth5r. The Tea Party occurred on Dec5mber 16, 1773, w5ll before the shots at L5xington and before the Declaration of Independence. What it did do very quickly, however was annoy the British Parliam5nt. As a result, The British att5mpted to punish the Am5ricans through the Coercive Acts. With the Coercive Acts, Boston Harbor was closed to merchant shipping, town gatherings were restricted, and the British commander of North American forces was appointed the governor of Massachusetts.
Fright5ned, the colonists gathered the First Continental Congr5ss in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, to think about their subsequent stag5s. R5sistance against the British increased, thats what l5d to those first shots in Massachusetts triggering the R5volutionary War. The S5cond Continental Congress convened about two years lat5r in Philadelphia. On July 2, 1776, that S5cond Contin5ntal Congress voted to separate from Britain. Two days lat5r, on July 4, the Declaration was formally adopt5d by 12 of the 13 coloni5s (the one holdout of the colonies, New York, approved it a couple of weeks later).The D5claration of Independence is in fact a letter to the King. At the point wh5n the D5claration was b5ing drafted, the pioneers f5lt that it was critical that the accurate purposes behind their mis5ry were clarified. The biggest segm5nt of the D5claration, after the lin5s is a rundown of complaints. Obviously, includ5d in the list were tax5s:
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
The word ‘Consent’ was important. Under the British Constitution, no British subjects could be taxed without the consent of their representatives in Parliament. But the colonies didnt elect representatives to Parliament. They were, however, clearly being taxed. The colonists considered the constant imposition of taxes without a vote to be unconstitutional. It was, they felt, ‘taxation without representation.’ (Declaration of Independence, 1776, Thomas Jefferson).
Conclusion
To conclude the causes of the American declaration of independence was a combination of many factors that occurred on a span of almost a century. Apart from taxes, other factors cannot be ignored. The seven years war showed the Americans that Britain was not invincible and gave them hope to one day break from their rule. One could even doubt that without the seven years war the Americans would not be as rebellious and determined to have independence. Apart from these the appointed governors of the British empire certainly increased the tension. It gave the Americans the feeling that they had no freedom whatsoever. America, from the beginning strived to be very democratic and fair, which is impossible to do when some other country has tremendous power and influence on them. But all aside, the American declaration of independence was a cause of continuous rise of tension between the colonists and the British and to a high extent the cause of this tension was the taxation system of the British. The taxes were unfair and became unbearable, further more these taxes didnt even go to their country and the betterment of the state. In the end American politicians became fed up with the unfairness of the predicament as well and on July 4, 1776 declared independence.
Reflection
The process of this investigation has certainly allowed me to use a variety of research methods and experience some of the challenges that face historians. Firstly, reading material for this topic specifically was too much so I had to pay close attention to what sources I needed to use. Secondly, I had to pay attention to the structure, not to go too off topic and stick to the question, which I found to be difficult at times. Apart from this I had to be careful in using sources because the reliability of most sources is questionable, sometimes due to them being biased and sometimes them just not being accurate. I was worried about Edmund Burkes On American Taxation considering that he was a British official in the time when Great Britain wanted to have control over the colonies. However, with the source I actually found that Burke was criticizing the British that the measures they were taking were too harsh. This goes to show that history is not black and white, rather complex and full of multiple perspectives. Historians are tasked to find out as many perspectives as possible and thats what I found to be difficult as well.
To add on to this, the sheer amount of information that is available on Colonial America both helps and challenges historians. With this information I questioned the extent of the British taxation system causing the American declaration of independence. Historians are tasked with finding sources that best explain the period. I was aware of this during my investigation, so I selected a combination of primary and secondary sources that more or less confirmed each other which helped me construct a coherent picture on Colonial America.
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